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19 August 2014

DEPRESSION: A SILENT SADNESS | SUNDAY SIT DOWN

A Silent Sadness. Last week was a relatively hard week for me, because of Robin Williams' passing. He was such a huge part of my life growing up, and even now, I can watch his movies over and over again. I have never been so sad to lose someone that I do not even know personally, but I was devastated. Every time I saw a picture, I remembered what they said about how he had been struggling with depression, and it was bad enough that he took his own life. That broke my heart into a million pieces, and I felt so sad that this man who could make the whole entire world laugh until they peed their pants was feeling all this pain inside his heart. I cried for him, and I wish that we could've made him feel the happiness and joy that he was able to make us feel.

Depression is a terrible illness that affects so many people, yet the general population tend to ignore it and have made it a stigma and taboo to discuss. People with depression feel like they need to hide it or pretend that nothing is wrong in order to get along with the world. WHY?!?! You don't tell people with cancer or diabetes to suck it up and get over it. As those are illnesses that are out of a person's control, so is depression. It's a chemical imbalance in the brain that affects moods. You probably know a few people struggling with depression. They're just too embarrassed to say it out loud.

Well, I'm going to say something now. I've struggled with depression for over 15 years, and let me tell you that it sucks to feel this way. Most people can't put their feelings into words, because most of the time, they don't know what's going on. They don't know why they feel so completely alone and utterly sad, and they feel it in their bones. It's the depression.

This video is where I share my experience with depression, both as a sufferer of depression and as someone who's close cousins has depression as well. This video was hard to make, but I urge you to watch it and share it, because as hard as it is to watch and to acknowledge the fact that depression does exist and that the world is not full of unicorns and rainbows for some people, it's important to be aware of the kinds of feelings people might feel. And it's not our fault. We didn't ask for this.

Awareness can help save lives. Save one today.

What are your experiences with depression? Please share below. Let's have a discussion. :)